THERMAL SCIENCE
International Scientific Journal
Find this paper on
EVALUATION OF ENERGY CONSUMPTION ON A PUBLIC TRANSPORT LINE OPERATED BY BUSES WITH DIFFERENT POWERTRAINS: A CASE STUDY FROM BELGRADE
ABSTRACT
The study presented in this paper evaluates cumulative energy consumption solely for traction including recuperation (if any), well-to-wheel greenhouse-gas emissions, and operating costs for diesel, CNG and supercapacitor electric buses in case of their operation on Belgrade’s radial public transport line 27. A physics-based longitudinal-dynamics model was calibrated with actual speed profile, altitude, and passenger-load data collected in field tests, then applied to two complete cycles (Republic Square ↔ Mirijevo 3). Results show that the e-bus energy balance (consumption - recuperation) was only 47.9 MJ per half-cycle, yielding energy savings of 71% relative to the diesel bus and 82% relative to the CNG bus. Corresponding unit energy balance per fuel were 4.74 MJ/km for electric, 16.23 MJ/km for diesel and 25.64 MJ/km for CNG powered buses. Despite Serbia’s coal-dominated electricity mix, well-to-wheel CO2 emissions from the e-bus remained the lowest at 0.73-0.74 kg/km, while tail-pipe emissions of CO, NOₓ, and PM were eliminated entirely. Comparative analysis confirmed that road gradient and stop density dominate energy demand in case of equivalent driving style (i.e., excluding driver’s impact). The findings demonstrate that electric buses can deliver substantial energy and local-pollution benefits even on hilly, mixed-traffic routes, providing actionable evidence for fleet managers and policy-makers
KEYWORDS
PAPER SUBMITTED: 2025-07-12
PAPER REVISED: 2025-09-20
PAPER ACCEPTED: 2025-09-29
PUBLISHED ONLINE: 2025-11-01
DOI REFERENCE: https://doi.org/10.2298/TSCI250712167M
CITATION EXPORT: view in browser or download as text file
REFERENCES
[1] ***, Directive 2009/33/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2009 on the Promotion of clean road transport vehicles in support of low emission mobility, 2009
[2] ***, Directive (EU) 2019/1161 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 amending Directive 2009/33/EC on the promotion of clean and energy-efficient road transport vehicles. 2019
[3] Sun, S., et al., Powering up Urban Mobility: A Comparative Study of Energy Efficiency in Electric and Diesel Buses Across Various Lane Configurations, Sustain Cities Soc., 101 (2024), 105086
[4] Boodoo, C., An in-Use Comparative Analysis of Diesel, CNG, and Electric Buses for a Small Island Developing State, Transportation in Developing Economies, 11 (2024), 1, pp. 1-16
[5] Kaya, A. F., et al., Fuel Consumption of Diesel, Natural Gas, Hybrid, Full Electric and Hydrogen Fuel Cells Based Buses: A Simulated Comparison Using Standard Road Cycles And Gradeability Tests, Fuel, 401 (2025), 135938
[6] Zhao, J., et al., Energy Consumption Prediction for Electric Buses Based on Traction Modelling and LightGBM, World Electric Vehicle Journal, 16 (2025), 159
[7] Viana-Fons, J, D., Paya, J., Dynamic Cabin Model of an Urban Bus in Real Driving Conditions, Energy, 288 (2024), 129769
[8] Mišanović, S. M., et al., Influencing Factors on Electricity Consumption of Electric Bus in Real Operating Conditions, Thermal Science, 27 (2023), 1B, pp. 767-784
[9] Momčilović, V., et al., Supercapacitor Electric Bus Modelling and Simulation Framework, Energy, 282 (2023), 129020
[10] Stokić, M., Dimitrijević, B., Model for Electrification of Urban Public Transport Lines with Supercapacitor Buses: A Case Study of Belgrade, Appl Energy, 377 (2025), 124670
[11] Mišanović, S. M., et al., Energy Efficiency of Different Bus Subsystems in Belgrade Public Transport, Thermal Science, 19 (2015), 6, pp. 2233-2224
[12] Mišanović, S. M., et al., Pathway of Reducing CO2 Emission and Harmful Exhaust Gases in Transport by Using Electric Buses - The Example of Belgrade, Thermal Science, 29 (2025), 3B, pp. 2313-2326
[13] Al-Ogaili, A. S., et al., Review of the Estimation Methods of Energy Consumption for Battery Electric Buses, Energies, 14 (2021), 7578
[14] Enge, P., et al., Electric Vehicle Engineering, McGraw Hill, New York, USA, 2021
[15] Virgil Petrescu, R. V., et al., Dynamics of Buses - Part II: American Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences, 11 (2018), 2, pp. 514-524
[16] Kammuanglue, N., Boonjun, J., Energy Consumption of Battery Electric Bus Simulated from International Driving Cycles Compared to Real-World Driving Cycle in Chiang Mai, Energy Reports, 7 (2021), Suppl. 3, pp. S344-S349
© 2026 Society of Thermal Engineers of Serbia. Published by the Vinča Institute of Nuclear Sciences, National Institute of the Republic of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International licence


